


Lessons in Smoking and Other Small Treacheries

by Felle



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Adult Confidant AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 04:24:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16779538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felle/pseuds/Felle
Summary: Sae tries out smoking the night before she steals her sister's heart.





	Lessons in Smoking and Other Small Treacheries

**Author's Note:**

> So this is jumping off from ScruffyTurtles' [Adult Confidant AU](https://twitter.com/i/moments/982871512389640194), where all the adults are teens and vice-versa. This would be the equivalent of the night of November 19 in canon.

_Autumn, 20XX_

_Fifteen hours before the arena heist_

Sae turned over for the third time in ten minutes and rolled onto her back where she could stare up at the ceiling, dimly illuminated by the buzzing neon sign situated across the street. The curtains she usually drew remained uselessly beside the frame. It must have slipped her mind earlier. Most everything after delivering her sister’s calling card had. Everything but the stony, resolute expression Makoto had been wearing as she left for the night, and the twinge of fear she’d tried to keep Sae from seeing, had fled from her thoughts. Sleep still remained tauntingly out of reach.

All the better to stew in her guilt, she supposed. Absent any easy distractions, there was nothing to keep her from fixating and driving herself half to madness. The dread had all but gnawed a hole through her stomach by the time she reached around for her phone and took it from its charger. A frown spread on her face as she thumbed through her contacts list, but it wasn’t as if she had any better options. The easy distraction was all she had left.

_Niijima Sae [01:28]: Call me._

Some part of her hoped that there wouldn’t be any response, that she had missed her window and that her best option was to try to drift off with a cup of sake, deadening her nerves for what was to come. Footsteps in the apartment upstairs creaked across her ceiling, and a long groan sighed out of her space heater. Her phone trilled out its ringtone in the near-silence, making her wince.

“That was quick,” Sae said.

“Well, I was still awake from the last girl who texted me after midnight. What’s up?”

She could already feel her blood pressure rising, and yet it wasn’t enough for her to set her phone down and try to fall asleep again. And it was her who had reached out, after all. “I can’t sleep.”

“And naturally your reaction was to deny me the opportunity, too?”

So much for subtlety. Whatever perverse amusement he derived from making her come right out and say it was beyond her, but it still wasn’t enough of a stumbling block to stop her. “Very funny. Can I come over?” she asked. “My sister left the bike when she went to the station.”

What sort of woman was she turning into, Sae wondered. This kind of boldness was supposed to be the domain of the light novels Sadayo liked to read. She sat up and stretched her shoulders. If there was anyone else who wouldn’t have been able to sleep…she rolled one lock of hair around her finger.

“Much as I’d love to have you over, we haven’t closed up shop here for the night. I could probably slip away, though. No one noticed when I stole in for the last of the sushi from dinner. Still a few pieces left, if you’re interested.”

Sae reached for the pull cord on her nightstand’s lamp, flooding her room with light and affording her a squinting glance around. It was hardly in a state for company, though she doubted it would turn any noses up. Still, she plucked an errant sock and tossed it into her hamper. Was her stress relief really worth letting someone into her last private space…well. She could always break a finger if he got too aggressive. “Fine, let me know when you’re here and I’ll unlock the door. No sushi, though. I don’t think I could keep anything down right now.”

“All right. Give me twenty minutes, the traffic into Hiroo shouldn’t be too bad now.”

The line cut without any goodbyes, leaving another span of silence as she set her phone aside and stood up with a stretch. Sae shrugged out of her comfortable, functional nightclothes in exchange for something slinkier, thin enough that a few shivers worked through her despite the heater in her room. It was even cooler in the hall and bathroom, and it was a wonder that she got her eyeliner back on in a straight line. Surely Makoto wouldn’t mind if she touched the thermostat just this once. The vents rattled to life as she cranked it up a few degrees. Even as it started to warm up, Sae stole back into her room and threw on her robe before going into the kitchen and getting out the sake. At her request or not, this would go so much smoother with a bit of a buzz. It burned all the way down, only hitting her once she rolled over the back of the couch and onto the cushions.

“Twenty minutes, my ass…”

There wasn’t much in the way of good television at two in the morning, and Sae had little else to do but pour herself another drink and luxuriate on the couch while mindlessly scrolling through her phone. Talk of the Phantom Thieves stuck out between more innocuous topics, scorn and wild speculation almost in equal measure. She frowned. It didn’t seem as though news of the newest calling card had leaked out yet—it seemed as though covering things up was all the police could really do—but that didn’t stop anyone from discussing the rest of their crimes, both real and imagined. Sae wanted to set the record straight, to at least try and absolve them of the harsher accusations, and her thumbs were ready to tap something out in response to one of the posts when she locked her phone and let it drop onto her chest instead.

A short, sharp knock at the door distracted her from her worst ideas. Sae stretched again as she got up from the couch, then fluffed her hair a bit on the way to the door. All this effort for someone who probably rolled right out of bed without a single, solitary care for his appearance. She shook her head clear. The door squeaked a little on its bad hinge as she opened it and stepped aside. “Traffic must’ve been bad.”

Shido shrugged noncommittally and stepped inside to kick off his shoes. “You just can’t predict these things, Sae- _san_.” He moved a bit further into the front room. “Hmm. I thought the chief of police would’ve had a bigger place.”

“Not everyone likes to showboat.”

Ten seconds and he was already jumping up and down on her nerves like a trampoline. If she could get what she’d called him over for and kick him out with a minimum of talking, she would consider it a success. Sae trailed up behind Shido and turned him around with a hand on his shoulder. He moved smoothly under her direction, staying obligingly still as she slid his glasses off. “Do you want a drink?”

He glanced toward the bottle she had left out on the counter, then back at her. One hand settled on her hip and pulled her closer until they were up against one another. Sae pitched her head back to look at him, at all the undeserved confidence in his smirk, and acquiesced to a brief, bruising kiss that sent a pleasant twinge through her body. “I think you’ve had enough for the both of us,” Shido said, guiding his free hand to Sae’s cheek. She could feel him against her, one of the exceedingly few parts of him that she could enjoy, and ground her leg between his thighs. His breath dissolved into a hiss. “Besides, you didn’t ask me over for pleasantries.”

“No, I guess I didn’t.”

Sae took his hand from her hip and led him further into the apartment, toward her room. She had barely gotten across the threshold before Shido was on her again, kissing into the crook of her neck from behind and sliding her robe off. He mumbled something indistinct as Sae backed into him. “Come on, my bed’s right there, get a grip,” she said, urging him on.

Eventually he loosened his grasp on her enough to let her guide them to the bed. Sae took the hem of his shirt and brought it up over his head, then let him do the same for her, slipping the camisole from her shoulders and flicking his thumb over one nipple. She shivered and fell back onto her bedsheets. “Did you bring a condom?”

“Yeah, yeah…hate these things.”

He reached into his pocket, only to have Sae grab his arm and pull him down onto the bed before he could produce it. Shido rolled his eyes as he straightened out and watched Sae do away with her pajama bottoms. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, now.”

“You know, we don’t—” Shido took hold of her leg and tried to reverse their positions, leaving Sae underneath him, but failed and only wound up on his stomach with one arm pinned to his back for his trouble— “we don’t have to fight every time.”

Sae sat across the small of his back, twisting his arm until he tapped her pillow in submission, then took enough weight away to let him turn over. He growled and rubbed his shoulder as Sae worked her way forward on her bed. “You only say that because you always lose.”

“That’s a pretty relative judgment of it. If I’m losing, this is a hell of a consolation prize.”

“Please, shut up,” Sae said, and sat on his face.

It wasn’t… _unsatisfying_ , but that was about the best thing Sae could say about their nights together. Everything was much too businesslike to allow for any intimacy. He got her off, she got him off—that was it. Simple give and take. Stress relief, a pressure valve for when things got to be too overwhelming. A few kisses here and there when the pleasure got the better of them. No talking, no hugging, no afterglow. It was better this way, Sae told herself. No messy complications. She wasn’t cold by the time they rolled apart, at least.

“This bed really isn’t made for company, is it?” Shido asked as they tried to find some configuration that would allow them to lay side by side for a few minutes. Sae shrugged, then grimaced when Shido reached down and took his cigarettes from his pants pocket. “Not something made with an adult in mind.”

“Ugh, do you have to do that right after? Go to the window if you want to smoke, I don’t need it stinking up my room.”

“So cruel, Sae- _san_. Getting what you want from me and then kicking me out of bed right after. I’m starting to feel like a piece of meat.” Nevertheless, he did get up without any further insisting, leaving his clothes in their pile as he went to her window and slid it open.

“You’re a piece of something, all right…”

He ignored her in favor of lighting his cigarette, producing a small orange point of light that nearly drowned in the wash of neon from the sign outside. Sae curled up under her sheets and watched him, observing the way his muscles stretched and contorted with each small movement of his body. Lines of smoke wisped out from his nose and disappeared into the night air. Shido looked over his shoulder at her, and suddenly Sae felt terribly self-conscious despite being the only one between them with anything in the way of modesty.

“I know you’re worried,” he said. He dropped an octave from his voice until it was at its normal pitch, the one the others never got to hear. “Everything will go fine tomorrow.”

“You’re my booty call, not my therapist. Don’t act like it.”

Not that it would have taken a genius to get to the root of her nerves. Sae slipped out of bed and went up to the window, fighting the urge to grimace at the smell of smoke. “Come on, you only call me over when you can’t study anymore or you’ve got _something_ you need to work off.” Shido tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear. “You’d be silly not to be worried. After what a disaster the last target turned out to be, with that press conference…”

Sae crossed her arms and hugged herself with a shake of her head. So much blood. It was such an arresting thought that she barely noticed Shido wrapping his hand around her waist and pulling her closer. “We’ll keep your sister safe, Sae- _san_ ,” he said, tapping the ash from his cigarette over the open air. Sae leaned against him. “I won’t let anyone harm a hair on her head. You have my word.”

“You know, the others might have liked you better if you let them see this side of you.”

“I didn’t want them to like me.” Shido took another drag of his cigarette. “I wanted them to pour out all their scorn and suspicion onto me…so that you could do your job without a problem. And it worked perfectly, didn’t it? You’re still their ace, and I’m only the annoying little interloper. Like that Madarame kid. Useful enough to keep around, but only on the periphery. Not in the inner circle, like you.”

“You’re more of a blackmailer than an interloper,” Sae said. Shido chuckled under his breath and shrugged. “I was reading a comment thread earlier. Blaming the Phantom Thieves for everything under the sun, naturally.”

“Even the ignorant masses have to be right once in a while.”

Sae motioned to the remains of his cigarette. “Let me try that.”

“What happened to not wanting to stink up your room?”

“I just need some way to destress. Please.”

Shido tapped away a bit more ash, then offered it to Sae. It felt so insubstantial between her fingers. The noxious smell of the smoke burned her nose, and only worsened when she brought it closer to her lips. “Just take a deep breath through your mouth and swallow,” he said. Sae leaned out the window to keep from dirtying her windowsill and followed his instructions, trying and failing to bite back coughs when the acrid taste settled on her tongue. Little plumes of smoke rolled out from between her lips, until there was only bitterness in her mouth. “Take it, take it back,” she choked out, trying to spit away the taste and hoping there was no one on the sidewalk below.

“Well, it’s not for everyone. But you didn’t throw up, we can call that a win.” Shido plucked the cigarette from her fingers and finished it off. He flicked the butt into the empty air and the street below, watching it tumble down and out of sight. “So, tomorrow. Or later today, I guess. Once we deal with your sister’s shadow, the main police force will be concentrated near the west end of the palace. Mifune ought to sense that after the shadow isn’t a threat anymore. And then, assuming the others can pry Kawakami off of him, Sakura will probably offer to distract the cops long enough for everyone else to get away.”

“That’s assuming an awful lot,” Sae said. The night air was bitingly cold, but they left the window open regardless. Somehow it seemed proper to let their words drift into the wind.

“People like that are always looking for a sword to fall on. There should be enough coverage that he won’t be able to get away, they’ll scoop him up and bring him right to the police headquarters. The route I showed you along the northeastern approach is the only weakness in their assault, make sure you lead the others that way. They trust you.”

 _They trust you._ Sae scowled and looked down toward the street. “And then?”

“Scatter. Even though they agreed to disband the Phantom Thieves after this, I don’t believe for a second they’ll keep to that. They’ll probably want to go right to that ratty little café in Yongen, but you ought to keep clear of them for a while. Less chance of letting anything slip accidentally. Say you want to stay near your sister or something. Without you or Sakura there to keep them in line, they’ll tear themselves apart in a matter of hours.”

Any louder and his chuckling would be cackling, Sae thought with a grimace. Even if he was proud of his plan, sounding this pleased with himself made him seem like some kind of absurd Featherman villain. She shook her head. “Knock it off, you don’t have to seem so gleeful about doing this to them. I know I’m not.”

“Oh, Sae- _san_ ,” Shido said with an absent roll of his hand down her back. Goosebumps rose up in his wake. “I would’ve thought you’d be a little more on board with this. Saving your sister and all. Once we swap out her treasure, there won’t be any risk of her having a psychotic break, choking on her own blood like that last one.”

“Don’t remind me. Don’t.” She didn’t need that image in the waking world, too. Sae pushed his hand away and retreated to her bed to put on her robe again. “I’m only doing this to keep my sister safe, not for your little crusade. Where are _you_ going to be, anyway?”

Shido collected his clothes as well, pulling on his pants and turning his shirt inside out to fix it. “Let me worry about that. Just play your part and everything will go perfectly. I can probably even convince my father to hire you once you finish school, if you don’t already have something lined up by then.”

Sae nodded absently, then ran her hand over her comforter. “You want to stay the night?”

“What?” Shido paused in the middle of getting his shirt on, then cocked his head once he was done. “You never stay over when I offer, and your bed’s barely big enough for both of us when we’re on top of each other. Besides, they know we live on opposite sides of the police headquarters. It’d look strange if we arrived together.”

She didn’t know if it was possible to feel relief and disappointment at the same time, but that was the only way she could make sense of the feeling coursing through her. She didn’t exactly want him there with her through the night…but neither did she want to be alone. “Right. I’ll walk you out, then.”

He took a moment to wash his face in the bathroom, and then Sae followed him to the front door. “Sojiro. What happens to him during all this, exactly? And don’t tell me only to worry about my part, I want to know.”

“What happens to him?” Shido pretended to think about it for a moment, tapping one finger to his chin in mock thoughtfulness. “You like poetry, don’t you?” he asked, then dropped his voice to its natural pitch again, almost a growl:

 _Sakura wa_  
_doko e to hito no_  
_tōtareba_  
_chito yōji ari_  
_ano yo e to ie_

Her blood turned to ice, and a chill worked down her spine as Shido slipped on his shoes. The smile he gave her was disgustingly insincere, a cloying smirk when he saw that she’d gotten the message. Behind his glasses, his eyes almost looked yellow, like a shadow’s. “Good night, Sae- _san_. Don’t forget to do your part tomorrow, I would just _hate_ for anything to happen to your sister because you screwed something up.”

The door shut with a soft click as Sae sank to her knees, holding her head in her hands. Tears fell, staining her robe, and the bitter stench of smoke clung to her.

**Author's Note:**

> Shido's recitation is a play on Yamazaki Sōkan's death poem:
> 
> _Should someone ask_  
>  _where Sakura went,_  
>  _just say,_  
>  _“He had some business_  
>  _in the other world.”_


End file.
